1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a braking device for drive belts. In particular, the device comprises a swivel arm, a rotatable idler attached to one end of the swivel arm adjoining the drive belt, a swivel bearing with damping elements acting in the swivel direction and spring elements acting in the swivel direction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A braking device of this type is disclosed in DE-OS 3 590 411. In this disclosure, the end of the swivel arm away from the idler is equipped with a swivel bearing. A flat coil spring mounted coaxially above and to one side of the swivel bearing preloads the swivel arm in the swivel direction against the drive belt via the idler. On the other side of the swivel bearing an axial preloaded damping element operates in a circumferential direction to protect the swivel motion from the effects of friction. This arrangement allows little vertical space for the braking device near the swivel bearing. As a result the radial extension is considerably larger. Thus, a swivel bearing of this type cannot be installed in very narrow configurations at the front of an engine block without coming into contact with the drive belt.